From Abracadabra to Zombies

Book Review

There have been a number of books published in recent
years that have lamented the loss of Enlightenment values to a rising storm
of unreason and irrationality. The good old days of the Enlightenment, or so
goes the myth, were days of optimism and hope buoyed by faith in reason,
toleration of conflicting ideas, and combat in the marketplace of ideas
rather than on the battlefield. In the west, liberal democracies arose from
the ashes of oppressive, intolerant societies. As science advanced, the
power of the churches waned. In America, we were lucky to have founders like
Jefferson and Madison who knew that freedom from tyranny was essential to the
continuance of the Enlightenment but that freedom would lead to conflict
that had to be controlled. The danger, they knew, was to become intolerant
and dogmatic to maintain order. Democracy would be a messy business. The
only hope for a free society was to put up roadblocks to those factions and
special interests that would force us all to follow their chosen path if
they had the power. No church would be a state church. All religions would
be equal before the law. We would have a Constitution that would guarantee
rights of citizens against the encroachment of power from the government,
the churches, and our neighbors. The price we pay for this liberty is that
the marketplace will overflow with mediocrity and every kind of stupidity and inanity,
as well as some genius and creative thought. Disdain for reason, contempt for
science, advocacy of superstitions and all forms of nonsense will vie for
attention along with the values of the Enlightenment. As ugly as our world
sometimes get, it is better than the alternative: an oppressive regime that
would force us all to think straight. As Winston Churchill said:
"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms
that have been tried from time to time."

Unlike most of the other books I've read that decry the loss of respect for
reason and science among politicians and the general public, Dick Taverne's
book concludes optimistically. In his final chapter, entitled "Reason and Democracy,"
he reminds us that things could be much worse. We could live in an
undemocratic society ruled by an oppressive government where there is no
freedom of religion or speech, and where, he notes, nothing much of value
has emerged in hundreds of years. The things we have come to value in the
liberal democracies—art, music, literature, science, technology, sports and
other leisure activities—stagnate under totalitarian regimes. "A glance
around the world today," he notes, "reveals that science flourishes in
countries where liberal democracy is enthroned and the rights of the
individual are protected."

So, yes, we live in a world where horoscopes are valued more than science by
many people, where absurdities like homeopathy are increasing in popularity,
where entertainment has taken a decidedly paranormal turn toward ghosts and
spiritism and psychic nonsense, but we are free to criticize astrology,
anti-scientific medicine, and psychic mediumship. Or not. In either case, we
should not whine about the fact that our arguments don't persuade large
numbers of people. As long as the irrationalists are not in power and not
writing laws that force us to think like them, we have to accept that our
liberty depends on their freedom to believe what they want, no matter how
stupid or false. Toleration of the wrong and the misguided is a price we
must pay for our liberty. Anyway, your neighbor who has been trying to get
you to take Chinese herbs every time you cough will be taken by ambulance to a
real hospital, not a homeopathic clinic, if she calls 911. In the U.S., at
least, prospective employers aren't going to ask you what your star sign is
before they will consider hiring you. So far, no medium has been allowed in
court to invoke the dead to testify.

Taverne also cites Karl Popper in defense of the notion that there is an
essential connection between liberal democracies and an improving standard
of living. "Societies progress by the free assertion of differing proposals,
followed by criticism, followed by the genuine possibility of change in the
light of criticism....The whole approach of an authoritarian society is
anti-rational. A rational and scientific approach requires societies to be
open and pluralistic."

Throughout the book, Taverne argues that the rejection of reason and the
evidence-based approach to problem solving and policy making "undermines a
civilized society and ultimately democracy." The main proponents of unreason
today, he argues, are those who prefer superstition to modern medicine,
mysticism to science in agriculture (the
"organic" is spiritually
better crowd), and what he calls the "semi-religious
opposition to GM [genetically modified] crops."* Taverne served in the House
of Commons and various government posts in the UK, which brought him into contact with
the proponents of homeopathy and the opponents of GM crops. He found
rational debate with these groups to be nearly impossible because they
reject or subordinate reason to the passion of their causes. They are the
modern equivalent of medieval theologians, who saw reason as the handmaiden
of faith and their job as defending dogma that had been established by
divine authority.

While there is a chapter on medicine and magic, most of Taverne's book is
devoted to defending the benefits of conventional agriculture and GM crops
and exposing what he sees as the deceit and irrationality of a number of
environmental groups whose opposition to GM crops is based on mysticism and
faith, rather than evidence, and argued for by appeal to "the Precautionary
Principle" (PP) (capital Ps) taken to the extreme: never take a risk.
The PP is never stated this explicitly, of course, but that is the
effect because the argument made by the opponents of GM crops is that
some risks should not be taken until we are absolutely certain that
potentially devastating harms are impossible. This is an absurd
requirement, of course. As Taverne puts
it:

...if the lack of absolute proof of the absence of potential
harm were grounds for opposing new technology, we should oppose every
technology, indeed dispense with the applications of science altogether.

The Precautionary Principle allows a
contrarian to support or oppose an action
without having to provide any evidence in favor of taking or not taking that
action. To prevent a new technology from being studied or implemented, one
need only note that some terrible consequences might occur if the technology
is developed and caution that we not take any action until we have absolute
proof that nothing terrible will happen if we go forward. This is the
approach of many who oppose genetically modified crops, according to Taverne.

To bring an end to a current technology one need only note
that some terrible consequences might be occurring because of the technology
and we should end it until we have absolute proof that the technology isn't
causing the terrible things the contrarian suspects it of causing. This is
the approach of many who oppose
thimerosal in vaccines or combining several
immunizations in one shot, and those who demand that power lines be put
underground to prevent potential harm from
EMFs or that Wi-Fi or cell
phones not be used because of fears of potential harmful effects.

Better to err on the side of caution the contrarian can say
and almost guarantee that the fear he has aroused will generate loud and
extensive support from the masses and the media. Nothing motivates like fear
and nothing makes the job of the contrarian motivator easier than being able
to arouse a great fear while being able to ignore any evidence that the fear
is unfounded.

Those who appeal to the Precautionary Principle are not
simply common-sense folks, advising caution before doing anything risky. It
is, of course, sensible to carefully consider, to the best of our ability,
all the potential consequences of a new technology before moving ahead with
it. As Lisa M. Ellman and Cass R. Sunstein put it: "A more refined and
sensible version of the precautionary principle amounts to balancing risks
against risks, rather than accepting a general (and almost comically
unhelpful) plea for risk aversion."*
The folks Taverne criticizes have taken better safe than sorry to the
extreme of take no risks because this area is holy ground.

The book has interesting chapters on what
Taverne calls the "eco-fundamentalists" and on the fallout of postmodernism
on attitudes toward science. His book will be rejected by many idealists who
are convinced that government and corporate conspiracies hinder the spread
of wealth to the poor and the poorer nations. Taverne defends capitalism, globalization, and corporations. He is
not oblivious to the many justified criticisms of how businesses and
governments work in the 21st century. In fact, he lists
many of them in his book and agrees with them. He thinks it is immoral the
way animals are treated on many large farms. He does not approve of the way greedy CEOs take
obscene salaries and incentives and he decries the crimes of Enron leaders
and the like. But he also thinks it is immoral to attack those who disagree with you by
attacking their suspected motives or denouncing their data without
providing evidence that you're right and the one you are attacking is wrong.
I won't go into detail here, but Taverne provides a lengthy defense of Bjorn
Lomborg's
The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World.
Lomborg, like Taverne, has been pummeled by environmental groups for his
optimism. The reader should examine Taverne's book and decide for herself
who has the better arguments.

Taverne's book provides an antidote to
the profound pessimism of the extreme environmentalists without becoming
Pollyannaish or irresponsibly incautious. Some might find it disturbing that
NGOs (non-governmental organizations) claiming to be concerned about
protecting the environment will sometimes distort or ignore evidence to make
their case. At times, groups like the
International Federation of Organic
Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the
Soil Association, Friends of the Earth
(FOE), the
Environmental
Defense Fund (EDF), the
Sierra Club, ActionAid
International, and Taverne's arch-enemy Greenpeace not only get it wrong
but don't seem to care to correct matters when their errors are identified.
Sometimes these groups don't seem to care what the evidence is: they know
they're right and they're sticking to their beliefs. They sound like George
W. Bush: "I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I
believe and what I believe—I believe what I believe is right."*